My Internet Activity Is Being Recorded ???

Hi Guy's.

I'm a little freaked-out at the moment and would appreciate any advice/information you can offer.

Earlier today I had a message flash-up on my monitor screen saying I had a virus and that I needed to download extra security. I already have AVG Anti-virus on my computer and it's always served me well.

Anyhoo, a few minutes ago I was sending a reply post to another thread here and another message opened-up in a different window that has me very worried (message read as follows);
.........................................................
www.protectioncase.com... Warning-Windows Internet Explorer

... your internet privacy is being threatened! (ASP browser warning) ASPO-015 system warning: all activities you perform on the internet are being recorded ...
(time of latest investigation-0:51am 29th March 2008)
............................................................

What the hell is going on ... can anyone suggest anything please ????

Woody

“Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself”: FDR’s First Inaugural Address


Good Advice!

reply to post by woodwytch


Interesting. I tried the link you supplied, and got a message that the page does not exist, so I tried to just type it in. Same message.

Could be some company wants you to purchase their security?

Did you do a virus scan?

Any and EVERYTHING you do on the internet is recorded by your ISP. Your activities are logged, studied and you get commercials and pop ups according to your tastes.

Being on the internet is no different than walking down the street. You have no privacy there and you have no privacy online.

Yes, your internet activity is being recorded.

I'm just glad I have no shame if someone finds out I occasionally watch a porno flick.

That's just some nasty malware... I've had similar events happen in the past. It infects you with a trojan, and then causes pop ups that offers their product to correct the issue. The problem could be Browser Helper Object (BHO) that attaches itself to IE, and can be rather tricky to get rid of. I would suggest you use Mozilla Firefox, download the free version of win patrol so you can check your BHOs and any hidden files that might be running. Also if you don't already use adaware you should probably give it a try and clean your registry as well. If you don't take care of it soon it might decide to add icons to your desktop, change the date to 9999, or something ridiculous and cause a number of pesky problems. Good luck to you.... worse case scenario, you'll have to do a partial system restore.

reply to post by Enthralled Fan


Hi there, long time no type.

I think you might be on to something ... everytime one of those little balloon thingies comes up telling me what danger my computer is in it's also telling me how vital it is to install a particular antivirus package. Thing is I can't seem to get rid of the damn things.

There's one of those damn security alert's looking at me even as I type this.

Thanks for the heads-up and good to hear from you. Woody

reply to post by mrwupy


Amazing how much free porn is on the web, the whole world is just crazy about porn (not complaining about it). Why doesn't big brother just send us a survey of sorts so we can save them the time with keeping an eye on us. I wonder how much it pays to spy on people on the web, anyone know? Going to go to work and spying on people online, that must be some great job for perverts.

reply to post by Osiris1953


Hi Orsirus1953,
That sounds like excellent advise and I shall look into that first thing in the morning ... oops, it is morning (2:22am).

Seriously though, I really appreciate your help (I'm so crappy with computers)

Woody

Dont worry too much about those pop-ups. They do that to make it look like its an "official" thing. Many of them do that to try and sell you software. I suggest that you completly scan your computer or it might even be too late. If you got the pop-ups on a particular site, then stay off of it. If it happened out of the blue then you could very well have a virus. My friend had the same thing.

(To the 'porn' guys);

You know that kind of thing is bad for you right ???

Woody

Originally posted by Osiris1953
That's just some nasty malware... I've had similar events happen in the past. It infects you with a trojan, and then causes pop ups that offers their product to correct the issue. The problem could be Browser Helper Object (BHO) that attaches itself to IE, and can be rather tricky to get rid of. I would suggest you use Mozilla Firefox, download the free version of win patrol so you can check your BHOs and any hidden files that might be running. Also if you don't already use adaware you should probably give it a try and clean your registry as well. If you don't take care of it soon it might decide to add icons to your desktop, change the date to 9999, or something ridiculous and cause a number of pesky problems. Good luck to you.... worse case scenario, you'll have to do a partial system restore.

Bingo.
run superantispyware, it'll clean 99% of the stuff out there for free.

just google it

YW... it's just a scam in which they try to intimidate you so you'll use their product. It's really obnoxious. Hopefully you have something that's easy to eradicate. You can send me a pm if you need any help in the future.

reply to post by jasonm56


Hi there,

Yeah, I think it's a virus ... it was just there when I switched my computer on ... it had been fine when I switched it off yesterday.

No doubt it's gonna cost me money aggghhh !

Woody

reply to post by woodwytch


It shouldn't cost you anything. There are lots of free products out there that work quite well for these types of problems.

reply to post by woodwytch


You need to have some good antispyware software on your PC. I would recommend Spybot Search and Destroy, as well as Spyware Terminator. You need at least two different programs to really get all the stuff out. Both of those programs are superb and free, so there's no reason not to use them. Run a scan of your system with both programs and you'll probably be surprised at the junk you find.

I also don't recall if you mentioned what browser you use. If you're using Internet Explorer, please stop now. Use something else. My preference is Firefox, but some people also like Opera. They're both excellent browsers.

Originally posted by woodwytch
(To the 'porn' guys);

You know that kind of thing is bad for you right ???

Woody

Hey now if I didn't look at so much porn, I wouldn't have as much experience dealing with this crap.... and I wouldn't have had any answers for you. My love of porn helped me help you.

I'd place my money on this simply being an advertisment.

Before I start, if you're worried about being tracked online and such, then log off now and destroy your modem/router and cancel your internet account because there's no way on Earth everyday people are going to avoid being tracked, especially if people are actively seeking you out.

I'm fairly tech-savvy but I really don't see how I could avoid being tracked, so I gave up trying to avoid it.

Anyway corporations running internet adverts, particularly the more dubious ones (such as the ones that like to steal credit card info!) place ads like this on sites to make people who are unfamiliar with computers or their own machine panic and click the links they want.

Eg. If the window comes up and says "YOU HAVE A VIRUS, YOUR INFORMATION IS BEING STOLEN RIGHT NOW!!! CLICK HERE TO RESOLVE!" then many people are likely to click it. They assume it's a message from their own PC, from spyware/virus software and since it screams at you for urgent action it doesn't even give you time to think about it.

It might even be something simple, that when you click it once it gives someone in china or something 0.2c, but a lot of clicks = profit eventually.

That's my take on it. I've seen these for a long time and I've seen people, particularly people in the 40+ category who aren't so used to computers fall for it. No need to worry IMO, it doesn't mean you're more 'exposed' than you already are.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Access to Spyware/Malware Denied (malspy)


You are attempting to access a site that includes software known as Spyware or Malware. It can be loaded onto your computer to capture information about you that could then be used inappropriately. It can happen without your intending it and without your knowing it.

To protect your computer and your information, access to this site has been blocked.


For assistance, contact the IT Corporate Help Desk, 1-800-****-HELP.

~~~

Yeah, my works IT department is going to be calling my boss on monday I suppose.

::GRIN::

Edit out Help Desk Phone

[edit on 3/28/2008 by bobafett1972]

To a previous poster a couple of posts up: You might want to say people over 50+ might be less familiar with computers in general. I'm 41 and grew up playing computer games. Everyone my age that I know of is very familiar with computers. They might want to hit them with a baseball bat at times but that doesn't seem unusual to me either.

As to the message that popped up, I've seen something that reminded me of that message when I got into some real heavy surfing a couple of times. I believe it's an advertisement. The one or two times that I thought I found something that might be sensitive government information by accident, my pc completely locked up and I got the feeling I was really being watched for a while. I rebooted my pc since one time everything was locked. Then I deleted the pdf file I had been looking at.

If you're using Internet Explorer, it's keeping a record of every web site you go to. Microsoft is even keeping a log in a file called index.dat. It's a hidden file that won't show up on an ordinary search. It keeps track of everyplace you've been on the internet using Microsoft software. There are free cleaners available on the internet if you want to clean up your tracks. You might even get to surf the internet a little bit faster if you clean up your tracks. Different web sites you visit can also tell the previous sites you were at if your cookies are active I think. I'm not exactly sure how that tracking software works. I remember I once visited a telephone company site. I didn't type in any personal information about myself, I just surfed there and left. The next day they called me up in person.


Even if you clean up your tracks, I believe Windows has some built in NSA keys that the NSA can secretly look into any internet connected Windows run pc. I'm not going to search for that again since I suddenly had strange computer problems the last time I did a search for that. I seriously doubt the NSA is going to want to look at just any ordinary pc though. Now if you're someone famous or dangerous, maybe. There is always the possibility you have a trojan or a high speed connection and a hacker might want to use your computer without you even knowing about it. Hackers can get an army of clones or pc zombies I think they are called to launch attacks or do other things. I'm not sure how, just something I read.

[edit on 28-3-2008 by orionthehunter]

reply to post by orionthehunter


Only going off personal experience! I agree there are 40 y/o's (and probably much older) who are great with PC's but I find 40 is about the start of the age bracket for people that can't use PC's. Just in my own life anyway.